Jeremy Renner, above, stars as Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy, a character

whose life is influenced by the previous actions of Jason Bourne.

It’s been five years since the last film in the Bourne franchise, where we saw Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) go public in a big way. The Bourne Legacy introduces us to a new hero, Aaron Cross, whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous three films. Here, stars Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz talk about the fourth instalment in the series.

Jeremy, you’re following in the footsteps of Matt Damon. How do you feel about that?

JR: “What Matt Damon did, and what the previous directors have done, was great. For those who love the franchise I’m not replacing Matt, nor would I want to.

“It would never have been interesting if I was taking over and playing the same character. Matt is always the face of Jason Bourne and always should be.

“I liked this script because it was an interesting way of continuing the story while honouring what came before.”

So your character, Aaron Cross, how does he relate to Jason Bourne?

JR: “They don’t know each other, so this has a whole new spin on why these ‘supersoldier’ spies are the way they are now. I hope I can bring a fresh perspective to it.”

Rachel, you play Dr Marta Shearing. Describe the character.

RW: “She’s at the cutting edge of science and she thinks she’s contributing to her country. But at the same time, she does secretly know that what she’s doing has great moral ambiguity to it.

“I would be less interested in her if she were just doing something good and saving the world. What she’s doing is a little dubious.”

What about Marta’s relationship with Aaron and why she decides to go with him when the operation she is working on is shut down.

RW: “They’re incredibly driven in very different ways. Marta and Aaron come from completely different backgrounds and they end up relying on one another for different reasons. That’s a really fascinating way to create a story.

“Marta is hesitant to go with [Aaron] but she doesn’t have any alternative. The people who represent law and order in her country just tried to kill her.

“She is a regular woman who happens to be good at science, but not good at evading the police authorities of the globe.”

How about the way both you and Jeremy approached your work, were there similarities there?

RW: “We’re very different people and we come from different backgrounds, but we have a similar way of working.

“Jeremy’s very free and loose and pretty wild, and wonderful to work with. I’ve loved every minute opposite him.”

How did you find Tony Gilroy as a director?

RW: “Tony has a very rock‘n’roll spirit, which is ‘Let’s find chaos and abandon, and let’s go’, which is great for acting.He’s an unusual combination in a writer/director and I’m happy to be in his band.”

As expected from a Bourne film, there are a lot of stunts but no CGI was used to create the scenes.

JR: “It doesn’t veer into the CGI world or massive explosions. It stays authentic. It was important for me to want to find humanity within this character.

“What matters is there is believability in everything we do in the film. No matter what the stunt is or the set-up, it’s all based in reality, truth and the potential of science. As an actor that’s easy to grab on to.”

So how did you find the stunts?

JR: “This was very, very demanding. I was lucky because many of the fight co-ordinators, the stunt co-ordinators and Dan Bradley were working on The Avengers and the three movies I did back-to-back right before this movie.

“Working with them was seamless. I had learned hand-to-hand combat on The Avengers, so I took that over to this and actually used patterns. I had a nice running start.”

There’s one particular scene where Aaron and Marta are involved in a motorcycle chase through the crowded streets of Manila, was that scary?

RW: “Being on the back of a bike with Jeremy, I felt completely safe. He was doing wheelies, skids and slides – those kind of stunts that he’s very good at.”

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